AY Honors/Pioneering/Answer Key

This can be done when sitting around the campfire. Get a half pint of heavy cream and place it in a sealable container with a wide mouth, such as a Tupperware vessel. Place a marble (or similar object) in the container with the cream and seal it up tight. Then pass it around the campfire having everyone shake it for a minute or two. After ten to fifteen minutes, the container should have two things in it: butter, and buttermilk. You can pour off the buttermilk (save it for biscuits or pancakes in the morning) and you are left with solid butter. Delicious!

e. Make a quill pen and write with it.

f. Make a corn husk doll.

g. Assist in making a quilt.

Why not earn the Quilting honor while you're at it?

12. Know five home remedies from wild plants and explain their uses.

13. Do one of the following:

a. Assist in constructing a raft, using lashings. Take a five-mile (8.3 km) trip on a river with this raft.

b. With an experienced wrangler, participate in a two-day, 15-mile (25 km) horseback trip, carrying all needed supplies on a pack horse you have learned to pack.

c. With an experienced leader, participate in a two-day, 15-mile (25 km) canoe trip, carrying all needed supplies properly. A short portage should be done.

Plan on one canoe for every two people. The supplies should be loaded into the center of the canoe, with the heaviest items being placed lowest in the boat, and the lighter items place on top of them. Remember that the canoe will almost certainly take on a bit of water from wet shoes, dripping paddles, etc, so don't put anything that must stay dry on the bottom of the boat. Some have reported success in placing a tarp down first, loading equipment on top of it, and then drawing the edges over the top of the gear. How ever you load the gear into the canoe, make sure you tie everything down. If the canoe capsizes during the trip, you want the gear to stay with the boat rather than go floating merrily down the stream - or worse - sink to the bottom. Try to remember that this is a possibility when you are selecting your gear. Don't bring anything with you that you cannot afford to leave on a river bottom (such as a borrowed tent, an heirloom axe, or a pair of designer sunglasses). Also try to remember that leaving gear on the bottom of the river is a form of pollution.

Canoe camping has one great advantage over backpacking in that you can pack a lot more gear into a canoe than you can into a backpack. Just don't overdo it. You will still have to carry everything during the portage.

Once the canoe is loaded, check its trim - that is, check that the bow and stern are at the same level. You don't want to have the either end sticking way out of the water, as that will make a canoe "tippy."

d. With an experienced leader, participate in a two-day, 15-mile (25 km) backpack trip, carrying all needed supplies.

Read over the answers in the Backpacking and Hiking honor before setting out. Both have a lot of information that is helpful for a trip like this, and a 15-mile trip will meet the "big" requirement in both.

"Carrying all needed supplies" means that you do not hike from point A to point B while someone else drives an SUV there laden with all your gear.

References

AY Honors/Pioneering/Answer Key

1. Describe in writing, orally, or with pictures how the early pioneers met the following basic living needs:

a. Housing and furnishings

b. Clothing

c. Food

d. Cooking

e. Warmth and light

f. Tools and handiwork

g. Sanitation

h. Transportation

2. Construct a piece of useful furniture by lashing. Learn the following lashings:

a. Square

b. Diagonal

c. Sheer

d. Continuous

3. Do one of the following:

a. Weave a basket using natural materials.

b. Make a pair of leather moccasins

c. Make a lady's bonnet by hand sewing.

d. Make a simple toy used by the pioneers.

4. Know how to make flour from at least one wild plant for use in baking.

5. Build a fire without matches. Use natural fire building materials. Keep the fire going for five minutes. You may use the following to start your fire:

a. Flint and steel

b. Friction

c. Electric spark

d. Curved glass

e. Metal match

f. Compressed air

6. Show axmanship knowledge in the following:

a. Describe the best types of axes.

b. Show how to sharpen an ax properly.

c. Know and practice safety rules in the use of an ax.

d. Know the proper way to use an ax.

e. Properly cut in two a log at least eight inches (20.3 cm) thick.

f. Properly split wood that is at least eight inches (20.3 cm) in diameter and one foot (30.5 cm) long.

7. Do two of the following:

a. Make a ten-foot (3.0 meters) rope from natural material or twine.

b. Tie ten knots useful to the pioneer and tell how they were used.

1. Bowline

2. Bowline on a bight

3. Clove hitch

4. Double fisherman's

5. Figure eight

6. Prusik

7. Sheepshank

8. Square

9. Taut-line hitch

10. Two half hitches

c. Using rope and natural materials, make one device for moving heavy objects.

d. Construct an adequate and comfortable latrine.

8. Explain the need for proper sanitation relating to solid and human waste and the washing of body, clothes, and dishes.

9. Assist in the construction of a ten-foot (3.0 meters) long log or rope bridge, using lashings.

10. Know four ways to keep the wilderness beautiful.

11. Do two of the following:

a. Make a wax candle or other form of pioneer light source.

b. Make a batch of soap.

c. Milk a cow.

d. Churn butter.